"It's a pain in the arse" - Josh Rock calls out media pressure put on youngsters such as himself and Luke Littler

Josh Rock is still in with a shout of qualifying for the knockout stage of the 2024 Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton. 'Rocky' defeated Wessel Nijman 5-3 in his second group match on Sunday.

Rock, who had still lost his first group match 5-2 to Gian van Veen, will now take on Stephen Bunting in a straight shootout to determine who qualifies alongside the Dutchman for the knockout stages from the group of death.

"I had to put in a good performance against Wessel because he is a great player," Rock reflected afterwards in conversation with Online Darts, admitting he knows all about losing with high averages like Nijman has suffered this tournament. "If you look back at my majors, nearly every single major I average 100 but lose. But that's the game nowadays you have to play well to win and I have to dig deep. "

At this tournament a few years ago, Rock was labeled the biggest young talent in the PDC, hitting a stunning nine-darter against Michael van Gerwen in a breakthrough performance. Since then though, that role of being the centre of the media's hype now seems to have been taken over by Luke Littler.

"I understand why they're doing it because obviously we're the future of the game. So I understand why they're doing it, but it's a pain in the arse," Rock says of the pressure put on the darting youngsters. "Why they're doing it, in my opinion, because you have to look at Luke Littler he's getting it all. And I don't know if it's affecting him or not, but he hasn't been performing the way he has because in my eyes. Just need to give the youth players a wee bit of slack sometimes I think."

UK fans can use Sky Sports during the Grand Slam of Darts. As usual, the tournament begins with a group stage with eight pools of four players each. The group stage takes place from Saturday through Tuesday, with all players playing three times.

The top two players from each group will advance to the knockout phase. Starting Wednesday, Nov. 13, the knockout phase will begin with the first matches of the final sixteen. This round will be completed on Thursday, Nov. 14. The quarter-finals will be played on Friday, Nov. 15, and Saturday, Nov. 16, before the semifinals and finals are finished on Sunday, Nov. 17.